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You're thinking of this as if it were two local amateur sports teams, which makes it seem like it's absurd for the FBI to be involved. Instead, I would look at

by bps4484 11y ago

You're thinking of this as if it were two local amateur sports teams, which makes it seem like it's absurd for the FBI to be involved. Instead, I would look at this as two multi-million dollar businesses engaging in corporate espionage. When seen from that angle, it is exactly the sort of thing the FBI should be involved in.

detaro 11y ago
why does the size of the organisations make a difference?
- alasdair_ 11y ago
  Because typically the FBI only investigates crimes where damages are potentially over a million dollars (or cases like kidnapping, murder etc. that cross state lines)
  - rhodysurf 11y ago
    This was across state lines so it is automatically the FBI's jurisdiction
kolbe 11y ago
Should the FBI be involved when the Pats deflate some footballs? That cheat cost some team tens of millions of dollars. I don't think so. I think it's for the NFL to decide.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > Should the FBI be involved when the Pats deflate some footballs? Is there a federal law that makes doing that a federal crime, and, if so, is there not a federal law enforcement agency besides the FBI that has been designated to exclusively enforce the applicable law? If yes to both of those, then, sure, there is a good case for the FBI getting involved, because its their job. Otherwise, no, they, shouldn't, because its not.
  - kolbe 11y ago
    I think we're on two different wavelengths here. When I say that the FBI shouldn't be involved, I'm not saying that a subordinate should disobey orders to enforce the law. I'm not saying that they are not legally within their right to do so. This is morality. And morality is deeper than blindly obeying legal statutes. I'm saying that the act of transforming an everyday action into a federal crime just because unauthorized computer access was involved is a horrible, dangerous system for us to have.
    - Apocryphon 11y ago
      The everyday action in this case would be akin to someone breaking into a rival company's headquarters, trespassing, and stealing secrets. Sounds like an action that's worthy of federal criminality to me.
- remarkEon 11y ago
  Well the NFL did decide that on their own, because they were able to figure out what happened internally. In this case, the MLB was unable to determine who compromised the Astros' network. So it would be completely appropriate for the MLB to seek out side help. Since, as noted in the article, their assumption was that some hacker penetrated their network, they called the FBI.

by bps4484 11y ago

detaro 11y ago

why does the size of the organisations make a difference?

alasdair_ 11y ago
Because typically the FBI only investigates crimes where damages are potentially over a million dollars (or cases like kidnapping, murder etc. that cross state lines)
- rhodysurf 11y ago
  This was across state lines so it is automatically the FBI's jurisdiction

kolbe 11y ago

Should the FBI be involved when the Pats deflate some footballs? That cheat cost some team tens of millions of dollars. I don't think so. I think it's for the NFL to decide.

dragonwriter 11y ago
> Should the FBI be involved when the Pats deflate some footballs? Is there a federal law that makes doing that a federal crime, and, if so, is there not a federal law enforcement agency besides the FBI that has been designated to exclusively enforce the applicable law? If yes to both of those, then, sure, there is a good case for the FBI getting involved, because its their job. Otherwise, no, they, shouldn't, because its not.
- kolbe 11y ago
  I think we're on two different wavelengths here. When I say that the FBI shouldn't be involved, I'm not saying that a subordinate should disobey orders to enforce the law. I'm not saying that they are not legally within their right to do so. This is morality. And morality is deeper than blindly obeying legal statutes. I'm saying that the act of transforming an everyday action into a federal crime just because unauthorized computer access was involved is a horrible, dangerous system for us to have.
  - Apocryphon 11y ago
    The everyday action in this case would be akin to someone breaking into a rival company's headquarters, trespassing, and stealing secrets. Sounds like an action that's worthy of federal criminality to me.
remarkEon 11y ago
Well the NFL did decide that on their own, because they were able to figure out what happened internally. In this case, the MLB was unable to determine who compromised the Astros' network. So it would be completely appropriate for the MLB to seek out side help. Since, as noted in the article, their assumption was that some hacker penetrated their network, they called the FBI.